# Largest city without a skyline **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181 "2003-06-02T18:31:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/1 "2003-06-02T18:31:25Z")
I haven’t done too much traveling, but most cities I have visited or have seen pictures of have a prominent skyline, a cluster of several high-rise buildings in the downtown area visible from at least a few miles away. Even my home city of Boise (pop. 185,000 as of the 2000 census) has a skyline, its largest structure being 19 stories tall. Does anyone live in or know of a relatively well-populated metro area where there is no skyline to speak of? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/2 "2003-06-02T18:48:07Z")
Depends on what your standard is I guess, but Madison, WI has a population around ~200,000 and around the immediate downtown, no building seems to exceed the height of the Capitol building, which is 200’ tall. (When I lived there, I heard it was an ordinance, but can’t find a link to anything about it via Google.) Some of the university and other buildings farther off are taller, but the overall effect seems to be that there is no single cluster of tall buildings, just a spread out mass of structures with a few spikes here and there. ---
**Author:** ![BlueMit11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BlueMit11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMit11)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/3 "2003-06-02T18:50:53Z")
Bloomington-Normal, IL only has a few tall buildings downtown. I wouldn’t call it a skyline. Population is 154,453 in '02. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/4 "2003-06-02T19:07:18Z")
Washington, DC has no skyscrapers. Buildings, with the exception of the National Cathedral and a couple of grandfathered ones, can exceed 13 stories IIRC. That doesn’t stop them from building them across the river in Arlington and other places adjacent to the District. Of course, with the Washington Monument, The Capitol, etc., you might contend that DC DOES have a skyline. ---
**Author:** ![Deadmime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@Deadmime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadmime)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/5 "2003-06-02T19:15:59Z")
My home city of Erie PA has 200,000 people and our largest building is only about 12 stories high…Sad thing is we are the third largest city in PA and no other building comes as close to that height. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/6 "2003-06-02T19:33:14Z")
Dublin has a population of ~2,000,000 people, but the tallest building is only 12 storeys. I believe there’s an ordinance that nothing can be higher than the top of the steeple of Christcurch Cathedral (I may be wrong). This was recently excepted to build the 120m [Dublin Spire](http://www.archeire.com/onsite/spike_construction/25.html), but that just an isolated spike. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/7 "2003-06-02T19:35:07Z")
Well, a lot depends on how you define “skylines.” Skyscrapers were, for a long time, an almost purely American phenomenon (today, they seem to be mainly an Asian phenomenon). Most of Europe’s largest cities never erected anything on the scale of the Sears Tower, the World Trade Center, or the Empire State Building. So, while those cities are impressive in a host of other ways, you’ll find that they don’t have the kinds of “skylines” common in the biggest cities of the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/8 "2003-06-02T20:09:36Z")
The nation’s capital has an amazingly nondescript skyline. [Look.](http://store6.yimg.com/I/retrocollection_1743_1605884) In fact the skylines of the nearby suburbs stick out much more noticeably. [Here is nearby Rosslyn, VA.](http://www.co.arlington.va.us/gallery/images/skyline.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/9 "2003-06-02T20:14:27Z")
Aside from the Eiffel Tower, Paris, at 2,000,000 plus, has no real skyline. The tallest buildings are in the suburbs. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/10 "2003-06-02T20:35:01Z")
I’ll let y’all know about Rome, I’ll be there in a few weeks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/11 "2003-06-02T20:46:13Z")
Tianjin, China. It has 9.7 million people and no real skyline. ---
**Author:** ![Salieri2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Salieri2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salieri2)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/12 "2003-06-02T20:49:00Z")
Omaha, Nebraska. About 600,000 people including suburbs and a bump instead of a skyline. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/13 "2003-06-02T21:18:01Z")
Thats not really true about Omaha. Yes our skyline is crap compared to other cities of like size, but we do have the Woodmen, the new First National Bank building(633ft and 40 stories), and the Union Pacific buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/14 "2003-06-02T21:31:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferret Herder \* > \*\*Depends on what your standard is I guess, but Madison, WI has a population around ~200,000 and around the immediate downtown, no building seems to exceed the height of the Capitol building, which is 200’ tall. (When I lived there, I heard it was an ordinance, but can’t find a link to anything about it via Google.) Some of the university and other buildings farther off are taller, but the overall effect seems to be that there is no single cluster of tall buildings, just a spread out mass of structures with a few spikes here and there. \*\* I think the OP means a non-descript skyline. Madison, Wisconsin has a beautiful skyline, recognizable by anyone who has ever been there – see - [http://quote.multiservers.com/lightning.jpg](http://quote.multiservers.com/lightning.jpg) - [http://www.mononaterrace.com/images/night\_from\_lake.jpg](http://www.mononaterrace.com/images/night_from_lake.jpg) Madison is also one of the few cities in the world where a satellite view of the area is also easily recognizable, too - see [http://asapdata.arc.nasa.gov/Madison.jpg](http://asapdata.arc.nasa.gov/Madison.jpg) The ordinance you refer prevents any building being taller than the State Capitol within a two-mile radius of the building. Since the downtown sits on an isthmus, this effectively prevents any building from obstructing a view of the Capitol, and rightly so! Of course, Madison also has the original Statue of Liberty, stolen from NYC back in the 1970s. However, the weight of the statue is took much for the ice on Lake Mendota - see [http://www.neurophys.wisc.edu/www/statue1\_jpg.html](http://www.neurophys.wisc.edu/www/statue1_jpg.html) 😃 (I cannot find the cite as to whether it is a city ordinance or a state law.) ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/15 "2003-06-02T22:48:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\*Aside from the Eiffel Tower, Paris, at 2,000,000 plus, has no real skyline. The tallest buildings are in the suburbs. \*\* Actually, there’s one skycrapper in Paris proper, the Montparnasse tower, and I still wonder why they built it there… ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/16 "2003-06-02T23:03:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferret Herder \* > **Depends on what your standard is I guess, but Madison, WI has a population around ~200,000 and around the immediate downtown, no building seems to exceed the height of the Capitol building, which is 200’ tall. (When I lived there, I heard it was an ordinance, but can’t find a link to anything about it via Google.)** Here you go: [http://www.dailyreporter.com/special/topjob2001/hotel.html](http://www.dailyreporter.com/special/topjob2001/hotel.html) > [@](#): > > As if that wasn’t difficult enough, Nysse said, the project faced constraints below from the water table for Lake Monona and above from a Madison height restriction that no building could rise higher than the rotunda of the state Capitol. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/17 "2003-06-02T23:09:24Z")
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Growing fast, plenty of tall buildings downtown, but no skyline. Downtown is lower than the mountains that surround it. There isn’t anyplace to see a skyline from. ---
**Author:** ![Fibonacci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Fibonacci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibonacci)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/18 "2003-06-03T13:10:15Z")
Atlantis… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/19 "2003-06-03T13:21:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duckster \* > I think the OP means a non-descript skyline. I thought so too, since I think the Madison skyline (such as it is) looks nice as well. However, the OP specifically says that most decent-sized cities seem to have “a prominent skyline, a cluster of several high-rise buildings in the downtown area visible from at least a few miles away” and so I wasn’t sure if that was the exact definition being looked for. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181/20 "2003-06-03T19:58:43Z")
For reference and comparison purposes, here is what [Boise’s](http://www.webpak.net/~andyk/images/am_park.jpg) skyline looks like (this photo is dated and another new structure has been constructed since this photo was taken). I’d say Madison, WI has what I would call a skyline. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-skyline/179181.md?page=2)